In Hands and Hearts
by Pastel Sky
Summary: She admitted, under the stars' watch, that he was the cause of her heart's flips. /Natsu, Lucy./


**In Hands and Hearts**

_Fairy Tail_© _Hiro Mashima_

_N a t s u x L u c y_

_

* * *

_The sky was splattered with messy arrays of colors. Streaks and bursts of reds, greens, yellows, blues, gold, silvers, and dozens of more colors adorned the night sky as they brightly exploded, accompanying the winking stars that were scattered all over the firmament.

Numerous eyes watched with excitement below; faces glimmered as lips let out a string of squeals and giggles. People were gathered in a crowd, cheering as yet another firework shot up to the sky before turning into various colors in an outburst, delicately forming a shape of a Magnolia flower. Lucy stood amongst the mass, watching with wide eyes and a smiling, gaping mouth.

It was utterly _beautiful_.

"Lucy!"

Hearing her name, she spun around to see the person calling out to her. Even in the middle of this many people, she simply couldn't have missed that tuft of noticeable pink hair and a flying blue cat a few meters from her.

Almost unconsciously, her smile widened.

She waved cheerily, standing on her tiptoes in an attempt to stand out. "Natsu, Happy!"

Lucy traveled through the crowd, unintentionally crashing and bumping into people as she made her way to her comrades. Another firework fleeted to the sky then burst with a loud sound, releasing flecks of rainbow colors after it erupted. She turned her head upwards and gasped in awe at the pretty, picturesque scenery. Taken aback, she didn't notice that a puddle of water was on her track.

"Ah!"

So it wasn't really surprising when she accidentally dipped her feet in it.

"You're such a klutz."

She pouted as he laughed, and she stuck her tongue out in response to his words. "Hey! Well, at least I'm a pretty klutz."

"That's a weak retort."

"Aye!"

Her cheeks warmed up, tainted with faint rosy tints. "Sh-Shut up."

Natsu and Happy laughed again in unison, high-fiving while she pouted even more, grumbling and mumbling about them 'not caring about people's misery but making fun of them instead'.

Hmph. _Heartless people_. She huffed.

"Kidding. Just messing with ya," he grinned toothily, baring his fang-like teeth.

Lucy gave them a half-hearted glare, but then smiled when Natsu nudged her arm in a playful manner. In all honesty, she could never be truly mad with them. Sighing, however, she looked down and felt pity for her soaked, wet blue shoes. _My favorite pair, too_.

"My shoes are wet now…"

"Nah, you can worry about that later. Besides, it'll dry out eventually, right?" he tapped her shoulder. "Anyways, let's go!"

"Where?"

"To the best place to watch fireworks!" replied Happy, gleefully flying around the stellar spirit mage and the flame dragon slayer. "The festival is _so _fun!"

Lucy laughed as Happy twirled in the air. She thought so, too. The festive atmosphere, the fragrant food stalls, the quirky booths, the fun games, and the fireworks display were all much to her enjoyment. If she were to tell the truth, she _never_ had this much fun before she joined Fairy Tail. She came to love the guild so much.

_It's all thanks to Natsu_.

"Come on."

The girl felt a warm grip on her wrist, and her cheeks immediately burned. She felt her heartbeat increased just a little bit more as he pulled her along with him, walking in fast paced steps.

Lucy felt her happiness swell all of a sudden.

They marched through the crowd, mouthing excuses as they went past the people (for Lucy's part, at least). She didn't really know just how many times she had inadvertently nudged and elbowed bodies. Luckily, the fireworks were distracting enough – at times.

"There are so many people."

"Well, it's Magnolia Town's birthday." Natsu looked at her from behind his shoulder, face bright as the fireworks' light bounced upon his visage. He grinned. "Wait until you see the Firefly!"

"What's that?" she blinked. Natsu skillfully dodged a person in front of him, pulling her along in his stride. Before he could answer, a loud sound popped from the sky, turning heads upwards. It was the firework again; this time shaping the rainbow cherry blossom Natsu and Happy brought outside her window before.

A smile tugged her lips.

It really touched her sometimes, how Natsu could be very caring and sweet every now and then (although she was sure he was going to frown if she told him that). Perhaps it was the reason why she was so attached to him and Happy as well.

Her eyes were set on the view above, but as she felt the warmth on her hand faded, she quickly turned her head back to where he was _supposed _to be.

"Natsu?"

And he wasn't there.

"Happy?"

She found her companions were absent. Glancing around, she tried to find the tiniest hint of their whereabouts, yet found none.

Lucy walked through the bunch of people once more, searching for pink-rosy hair and a blue flying cat. She was _flabbergasted_. Had they left her? But she found no reason for them to leave and she was flustered and confused and she didn't like being left alone like this. _Was this a prank?_ Oh, those two heartless _little_ –

"Lucy?"

She twirled around and her lips let out a puff of breath she didn't realize she was holding, as she found Natsu standing in front of her, a wooden skewer hanging on his mouth. "W-Where have you been? And that – that…"

"This? I went to buy this. Here," he grinned broadly, handing another skewer with small colorful balls on it to the blonde. "You said you wanted to try Magnolia's special annual _dango_, right?"

Her eyes blinked. She was surprised that he remembered her words from a long time ago – but she felt really, really happy, nonetheless.

"Geez."

A slight blush crept to her warm cheeks as she uttered a small 'thank you'. Now that Natsu was here, she felt somehow at ease, although she did feel rather silly for feeling worried – and somewhat annoyed – a while ago.

He would always be able to find her among the crowd.

That was for sure.

She was just going to ask him about where Happy might be, but she was interrupted by the sudden fervent cheering from the citizens. Suddenly, the warmth came back to her wrist and she was being pulled again by the pink-haired Salamander.

"Crap. We gotta hurry."

.

**x x x x x x x x x x x x x**

.

"You're here!"

"Yeah. We made it in time, luckily."

Lucy stopped right behind Natsu, trying to even her breath as she panted. Really, she had a difficult time trying to match her pace with the fire mage, whose steps were too long and fast for her to keep up. Not to mention the time when they had to _climb_. What is he? A ninja? _Geez_.

She huffed, trying to get rid of a nin-nin Natsu on her mind. "Why are you in such a hurry, anyways? And," she looked down to make sure she really was standing on top of a very familiar building, "why are we standing on Fairy Tail's rooftop, again?"

Happy and Natsu glanced at her, grinning heartily.

A loud sound – possibly the loudest one of the fireworks so far – popped from the sky all of a sudden, and a terribly bright, bright light covered what seemed like the entire town. Lucy closed her chocolate eyes –

"Wow."

- and was completely blown away when she finally opened them.

A myriad of colorful, small balls of light fell slowly from above. It was like snowing, she thought, and it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"What's… this?"

"The Firefly." Natsu sat down and looked up, catching the lights with his bare hands. Lucy opened her palm, letting a glowing ball of light rest against it before the light disappeared into tiny particles. A contented sigh escaped her lips as she took the scene before her to her heart, sitting down next to Natsu.

"They're so pretty."

"Aye."

Natsu laughed when a light-ball fell upon Happy's nose, making the cat sneeze. He closed his eyes and stretched his arms wide, letting the balls hit him ethereally as he grinned all the while. "I'm blessed."

"They're not blessing you," said Lucy, poking a cheek of his with a finger. Imitating Natsu, she stretched her arms and looked up to the sky. "They're blessing _us_."

"Sure, sure," he replied, grinning playfully.

A few minutes later, Lucy found herself lying on the roof's floor, trying to beat the Salamander in a light-ball catching contest. Happy was already asleep between the two, snoring ever so peacefully as he dreamed about rainbows and fishes – and Charle.

"Aah. I'm beat," the girl huffed, victoriously grinning when she glanced at the boy beside her. "Take that, thirty one."

"Hah," he scoffed. "You won only by _one_ point. It's just luck."

Lucy stuck her tongue out at him. "My luck is a skill. Don't be jealous."

He replied with a toothy grin and a small flick to her bangs. "Smug. I'm seriously gonna defeat you next time."

"We'll see," she laughed. Beating Natsu at something really felt great, seeing that it was _Natsu_ she was competing with. Maybe she would ask him to get her another _dango_; she loved the sweet food. It would be nice to be treated by him again.

The breeze blew softly past the pair of Fairy Tail mages and their sleeping cat companion. Lucy sighed, relishing the night's atmosphere.

"So this is the best place to watch fireworks, huh?" she said.

"Of course," replied the fire mage as he placed his hands under his head, "Fairy Tail's the best."

She smiled.

"Thank you for taking me here, Natsu."

Seconds of silence fleeted between the two before he shifted, peering at her with the warmest grin she had ever seen.

"It's boring without you."

_Thump._

Her eyes were unable to look away from him. Heat had made its way to her rosy cheeks, and her heart leapt at his words. How could he be so cute and charming and warm and so, so _loveable_ while still being the same dense, short-tempered, reckless, silly, dense Natsu?

It was unfair.

She was wordless and out of explanation for the feeling she was having right now, and she couldn't let him know about the flutter in her heart as well as the butterflies in her stomach. This wasn't new. This wasn't new _at all_. But maybe this time, she thought, she shouldn't go into denial anymore.

So she simply smiled back.

That night, under the twinkling stars; under the flimsy shine of the Firefly's balls and in the merry atmosphere of the festival;

Lucy admitted that she had fallen for the hothead.

...

...

"Such a cute couple."

"You're awake!"

* * *

~ **A/N**:

Hello! This is my first fanfic in tribute to Natsu x Lucy. The festival background is something I have always wanted to do from long ago, although I may have followed my imagination too far in this fic. /sweatdrop

Please pardon my clumsy writing - I hope you can bear with me. Still, thank you for reading this, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do writing it. :)

I _love_ this pairing from heart. 3

**_Edit 12/1/2010: _**Thank you very much _ghostbones_**_,_** for pointing out that error I made. Please forgive my mistake. ;_;


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